ReMix:Dragon Ball Z Budokai 2 "Twisted Soul" 4:31

B-laze (a.k.a. Fungist, Kenneth Nordsveen) returns with a fifth featured mix, dropping a vox sample-laden psytrance take on Dragon Ball Z Budokai 2 that would have fit right in on Shonen ReMix Jump! and was in fact originally made *for* that album:

"Hi, I was being nostalgic, browsing through my music folders and came over this track I finished in 2016. I have totally forgotten about it, but if I recall correctly, I was contacted via mail for remixing a track for an album release on OC ReMix. As I finished the track, but totally forgot to send the track back (over 6 years ago), I am pretty sure the album was released without my addition to it. Therefore I thought when browsing through my archives that I would submit this track directly now, a bit too late.

The track is a fast psytrance composition that has elements of upfront happy and melodic psytrance for the first part, building up to a more "darkpsy" feel in the middle, as I used voices from the game (which I have never played by the way). As I have no idea what Dragon Ball is about, I just hope the sound effects and voices are correct, because I dont know anything about the story of this game.

Anyways, it's been so long since I submitted anything to OC ReMix, and I remember I got comments on my Super Mario World remix which was called "Psy Castle" that some people hoped it was psytrance when it wasn't. So here is my psytrance remix for OCR. Cheers."

Fair enough! Bummer that this didn't make it onto the album, but happy to have it now - I'm not hugely familiar with Dragon Ball Z, either, but from what little I DO know, many of the plots seem to surround people proving how powerful they are, becoming more powerful, telling others how powerful they are at length, etc. Something is over 9000, and that's also important. If you turn blonde, that's actually a good thing, and there are at least fifteen different aliens named "Boo". Entire planets get destroyed during fights, there's a Trunks, and there are numbered androids, so you can keep track of them, which is thoughtful. I think that sums it up. If that's not compelling enough for you, don't worry, because you can still enjoy this mix - essentially, I think of both psytrance AND Dragonball Z as cheese, but in a GOOD way. So this is like cheese-on-cheese action, for me, and that spells delicious. There are some unusual transitions here & there, but judges were unanimous that this mix delivers on its concept in a satisfying manner. I myself weighed in, so I will narcissism:

"Admittedly, it probably helps with this one if you have a profound love of Dragon Ball, or just... deep male voices talking about power. Otherwise, the generous helpings of voiceover quotes are going to seem a little odd. I could have seen the bass going a bit lower - I think it would have survived a full octave dip for one or more sections. The pulled-back section is less iconically psytrance, but does offer a respite/variety in a genre that can sometimes get overwhelming. Some neat psychedelic panning effects and decent attention to modulation over time checks some of the core genre boxes, and overall it was, in a word, fun. I wasn't 100% sold, but I was sold enough to have a good time."

New judge jordi weighed in with more specifics, and ALSO mentioned cheese:

"This arrangement is something that I could imagine hearing at the fairground on one of the larger and faster rides. For me, it sits on the right side of the border between fresh and cheesy. This a track that ran the risk of being repetitive in energy, but I think you did a good job to add variations and small details throughout to keep it fresh. I noted that one particular aspect that this track made great use of in order for that to not happen is the attention to the percussion. We've got that juicy kick at 0:54 which is also heard at 1:36, but is joined by those new arpy synths and rises. Then some different percussion comes in at 2:02. The whole feel changes at around 2:53 and adds a sense of slowness and tension in the mix!"

It DOES kinda land like a fun ride, and just to be clear, I think Kenneth actually picked some superb quotes from the game/series to use in this context - "try this!!" and "share your energy with me!!!" both work quite well, as but two examples. XPRTNovice had more to say, but I enjoyed this nugget:

"Let’s be honest – nobody has any idea what Dragonball is about. But that didn’t stop you from making a good arrangement of the music."

I feel like at some point, someone may actually have known what the original Dragon Ball was about, but then they added the Z, and any shot at meaningful comprehension perished. But we must all embrace the chaos at some point, and it's better to do so while enjoying some guilty-pleasure, well-crafted psytrance :) Kudos & thanks to B-laze for an extra-fun fifth featured mix!